Athens County, Ohio, February 20, 2013 By Sandra Sleight-Brennan, award winning radio producer and independent journalist based in Southern Ohio.

As citizens in 21st century America, we assume that our national and state laws protect us and our children. They do, in many cases, but NOT went it comes to health and safety regulations concerning the fracking of natural gas. In Ohio, there are so many holes in the oil and gas regulations that the loopholes are big enough to drive a bus through.

I wondered what would happen if a truck full of liquid waste (brine) from a horizontally hydrofracked well hit a school bus on one of our rural roads – say Rt 144 in Athens County where a permit for the Atha Injection well is pending. So I started asking questions. More…